Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 16 hours ago
A Sony transistor radio from 1959--in the original box!
At just a little over 3 by 5 inches, this Sony model is just a little larger than an index card, if anyone still knows what an index card is. This radio's claim to fame is its thinness--it's just shy of one inch thick. Styling-wise, there is a center stripe in the grille which is recessed and painted. This particular grille got pitted somehow, corroded, or as we like to say when downplaying damage like this, 'oxidized.' I believe this corrosion happened as a result of the radio being in its case, which held moisture against the grille yielding this result. When I got this radio, it was in this case, this stiff, brittle, broken case, and there was no box. I found this box later, empty, with only the owner's manual and papers inside. Strangely, there's no room in the box for the case, so I assumed that the case must have originally been sold as an option and packaged separately. I think I now know the real story which is much more interesting. In collecting, finding one thing will often inform something else you already have. Finding this TR-610 in this large box bearing the name Delmonico International helps inform what is going on with the TR-810. Early versions of both radios were sold in the US through Delmonico as distributor. The way this apparently worked was, Sony shipped the radios from Japan in small gold boxes, like this one for the TR-810 that we already saw and this one for the 610 model. Then Delmonico took the lid off that box and put it underneath, like you see with this white 610 radio. Then Delmonico put that open-top gold box into a cutout space in their larger box, and added a case next to it in that larger box. And that's why the case doesn't fit in the Sony box.
Sony in those days seemed to be always experimenting with shape and style with each new model. I can't say this one does as much for me as their other models, but then I appreciate that it is different. With difference there is a sort of hope. With consistency and conformity what you get are familiarity, and economies of scale. But with difference, the more courageous course, what you MIGHT get is something better or something improved. There's a chance, anyway. I think I just made the case for...diversity. This Sony is an eight-transistor model and it has two earphone jacks and an antenna jack on the side.
And here is the owner's manual, or "Instruction for Use," as Sony liked to call it. It says "Super Thin TR-810."
The warranty card is pre-addressed to Delmonico International, indicating a first generation Sony radio that came to the United States through Delmonico. This card, strangely, has no place to fill out anything. There's also a card here pre-addressed to Sony in Japan that does ask for things to be filled out. it's called the "Owner's Card of Sony Radio." The original owner of this radio, obviously confused, sent in neither card--and we're glad they didn't.
Sony's arrangement with Delmonico as their distributor soured by late 1959 and subsequently Sony set up their own distribution in the US, the Sony Corporation of America. In February 1960, they leased their first US offices at this location in New York City. Their total office space there in those first offices was 355 square feet--less space than a two-car garage. The lack of an American address on this "Owner's Card" further supports that the radio we're looking at here predates those events and was imported in 1959 through Delmonico. Though Delmonico was long out of the picture by June 1960, the TR-810 was still a current model as you'll see in a magazine ad I'll show you in a minute.
These Delmonico cases we see on the early Sony radios are essentially cardboard, and faked up to look like leather. Where they were made, who knows? My guess is they were made in America. And I'm guessing that these cases were among the bones of contention between Sony and Delmonico that led to their parting of ways. It's understandable that Sony would be less than thrilled with its carefully crafted products being put into bulky and cheap leatherette cases with someone else's name on them. Depending on when they were imported and through what channel, collectors will find several early Sony models sometimes in these thick leatherette cases bearing the name Delmonico, and sometimes the same model will be found in a thin, genuine leather case that says Sony on it.
These TR-610 radios in their cases illustrate what I'm talking about. On the left here, is the Delmonico case with the name mostly worn off, and on the right, the thin, genuine leather Sony case, indicative of a later import.
Here's another Delmonico case with the name more clearly visible. You can see how well they held up. And you can see how they added bulk, unwanted and unnecessary bulk to a radio Sony had taken great pains to slim down.
"Sony.. the pocketable radio for good living.. and good giving." Here the virtues of the TR-810 are. . .
A Sony transistor radio from 1959--in the original box!
At just a little over 3 by 5 inches, this Sony model is just a little larger than an index card, if anyone still knows what an index card is. This radio's claim to fame is its thinness--it's just shy of one inch thick. Styling-wise, there is a center stripe in the grille which is recessed and painted. This particular grille got pitted somehow, corroded, or as we like to say when downplaying damage like this, 'oxidized.' I believe this corrosion happened as a result of the radio being in its case, which held moisture against the grille yielding this result. When I got this radio, it was in this case, this stiff, brittle, broken case, and there was no box. I found this box later, empty, with only the owner's manual and papers inside. Strangely, there's no room in the box for the case, so I assumed that the case must have originally been sold as an option and packaged separately. I think I now know the real story which is much more interesting. In collecting, finding one thing will often inform something else you already have. Finding this TR-610 in this large box bearing the name Delmonico International helps inform what is going on with the TR-810. Early versions of both radios were sold in the US through Delmonico as distributor. The way this apparently worked was, Sony shipped the radios from Japan in small gold boxes, like this one for the TR-810 that we already saw and this one for the 610 model. Then Delmonico took the lid off that box and put it underneath, like you see with this white 610 radio. Then Delmonico put that open-top gold box into a cutout space in their larger box, and added a case next to it in that larger box. And that's why the case doesn't fit in the Sony box.
Sony in those days seemed to be always experimenting with shape and style with each new model. I can't say this one does as much for me as their other models, but then I appreciate that it is different. With difference there is a sort of hope. With consistency and conformity what you get are familiarity, and economies of scale. But with difference, the more courageous course, what you MIGHT get is something better or something improved. There's a chance, anyway. I think I just made the case for...diversity. This Sony is an eight-transistor model and it has two earphone jacks and an antenna jack on the side.
And here is the owner's manual, or "Instruction for Use," as Sony liked to call it. It says "Super Thin TR-810."
The warranty card is pre-addressed to Delmonico International, indicating a first generation Sony radio that came to the United States through Delmonico. This card, strangely, has no place to fill out anything. There's also a card here pre-addressed to Sony in Japan that does ask for things to be filled out. it's called the "Owner's Card of Sony Radio." The original owner of this radio, obviously confused, sent in neither card--and we're glad they didn't.
Sony's arrangement with Delmonico as their distributor soured by late 1959 and subsequently Sony set up their own distribution in the US, the Sony Corporation of America. In February 1960, they leased their first US offices at this location in New York City. Their total office space there in those first offices was 355 square feet--less space than a two-car garage. The lack of an American address on this "Owner's Card" further supports that the radio we're looking at here predates those events and was imported in 1959 through Delmonico. Though Delmonico was long out of the picture by June 1960, the TR-810 was still a current model as you'll see in a magazine ad I'll show you in a minute.
These Delmonico cases we see on the early Sony radios are essentially cardboard, and faked up to look like leather. Where they were made, who knows? My guess is they were made in America. And I'm guessing that these cases were among the bones of contention between Sony and Delmonico that led to their parting of ways. It's understandable that Sony would be less than thrilled with its carefully crafted products being put into bulky and cheap leatherette cases with someone else's name on them. Depending on when they were imported and through what channel, collectors will find several early Sony models sometimes in these thick leatherette cases bearing the name Delmonico, and sometimes the same model will be found in a thin, genuine leather case that says Sony on it.
These TR-610 radios in their cases illustrate what I'm talking about. On the left here, is the Delmonico case with the name mostly worn off, and on the right, the thin, genuine leather Sony case, indicative of a later import.
Here's another Delmonico case with the name more clearly visible. You can see how well they held up. And you can see how they added bulk, unwanted and unnecessary bulk to a radio Sony had taken great pains to slim down.
"Sony.. the pocketable radio for good living.. and good giving." Here the virtues of the TR-810 are. . .
